Hotel of the Dead
by xmaslightguy
Summary: When the groups situation becomes desperate, and hope is fading quickly, they hear a broadcast over the radio about a safe area in the city. They decide to follow the message, but what sort of situation will they really find? Who will they trust, and will they really be safe?


**Chapter 1 - **The Establishment

Edward sat in his meeting with the Shimizu Corporation. The board was talking about some inner-city housing block, and Edward, representing the largest investment firm in North America, was sitting in to see if it was a worthwhile venture. His translator was sitting next to him, speaking softly in English about what was being said. Edward knew Japanese, but these businessmen were speaking so quickly and using so many advanced terms, the translator was necessary. The meeting had started at seven that morning, and now, just around lunch, it was finally finishing up. He thanked the executives for their time, said goodbye to his translator, and rode the elevator down to the first floor of the office building. He thought, as the elevator descended the 72 floors, about his surroundings. The numbers on the elevator, the people in the board room, and hell, even the elevator music. All of it, undoubtedly Japanese. And he seriously hated it.

Edward isn't a racist, but he would call himself patriotic. The American culture, one were you took what you could and climbed on the backs of others for success, that was the culture he grew up in and was use to. The Japanese culture was completely different from that. Sure, there was capitalism and people climbing over other people to be successful, but it was also so polite in so many ways. Their ideas of honor and peace completely confused him. Their police force was hardly ever needed, and even their biker gangs were more like glorified distractions rather than actual criminals. Then again, he wasn't Japanese, so maybe there was more to it. When the elevator doors opened, he briskly walked out and into the garage where a driver was waiting for him. He was only a few blocks away from his hotel, but Shimizu was providing the car, so why not take advantage of it. He found his driver, and was instantly greeted with a bow and the phrase, "Good evening Edward-Sama, how is your health?" Edward mentally rolled his eyes, as this was exactly what he had just been thinking about. "I'm not dead at least," he said, without returning the bow, "Just drive me to my hotel." The driver just smiled and opened the car door, but once Edward got in, the driver's expression switched to annoyance, with the thought of _"God Damn Americans..."_

The ride back to the hotel was awkward, at least, for the driver. He tried, only because it was his job, to engage in conversation, but each time Edward either gave a one-word answer or didn't even bother responding. For Edward, this was the best kind of car ride. He could ignore everyone and just simply check his phone or look out the window. He was doing just that, looking out the window, when he noticed several police men run urgently into an alley, guns drawn. _"Oh?" _he thought, _"Maybe some piss-poor criminal finally rediscovered his balls_." He looked about the street, and noticed either a lack of people, or people urgently trying to get somewhere. Suddenly, the car swerved and Edward hit his head against the window, not hard enough to cause damage, but it still hurt. "Hey! Dipshit! Watch where you're driving!" That had actually been the first phrase he had learned in Japanese, and he enjoyed any chance he got to use it. "Sorry, some idiot just jumped out into the road." This was of course overlaid with a nauseating amount of politeness. "Next time, just hit the fucker." The driver took a second to glance in the mirror, to see if Edward was joking, but he was already back looking at his phone.

Nothing else like that happened for the rest of the ride, and he was dropped off at his hotel without incident. When the driver opened the door for Edward to get out, he handed him 100,000 yen. He knew he was a dick to people, and he enjoyed it, but that didn't mean he needed nor wanted enemies. He assumed the driver, instead of reporting his rudeness and impoliteness, would probably now praise him and tell the Shimizu corporation nothing but good news. Besides, for his pay-grade, $1,000 equivalent in Yen was really pocket change. The driver was speechless, but still managed to force out the most polite thank you he could manage. Edward didn't even care, and just walked to the elevator. This hotel was a high-class foreigner hotel, so instead of the signature sardine-can equivalent housing, these hotel rooms actually had space to breath in. The building was 24 floors tall, and Shimizu had put him on the top floor, in the penthouse. As the elevator ascended, Edward's phone buzzed, and he got a seriously weird text message from his boss. It read, "Edward, get your ass back to the states ASAP. Some bad stuff is happening around the world now, and Japan is getting the worse of it." He didn't really understand the text, but while he may curse like a sailor, his boss was always collected, even to him. The fact that he used 'ass' in that message meant this was serious.

Edward put away his phone just as the elevator opened. The hallway was empty, which wasn't strange since there were only four suites on the floor, but he still hurried to his room. He slammed the door behind him, and ran to the window. Throwing the shades open, he was greeted with a city of chaos. Fires were burning, traffic was off the roads, and looking at the building across the way, he saw what looked like blood-stains on the windows. "What. The. Fuck..." He could only stare, as he now picked out figures slowly moving through the streets, attacking other people and tearing them apart. He noticed a body fall past his vision, and looked up to see a man fighting with three other people on top of a building. The man pushed away one, before the other two tackled him over the edge. He watched the three fall, and saw the two still clawing and biting the other during the descent. Edward was in shock, and proceeded to throw up into the garbage can of his room. His spat the taste out of his mouth, when a knock came on his door. It wasn't a knock really, but more of a thumping, along with some scrapping. "Who's out there!?" he yelled. The only response was increased pounding and a deep-throated moan. Edward didn't like it at all, not with what he had just seen. He looked around, but the room was completely devoid of any signature weapons he could use. Seeing no alternative, he grabbed the wall-lamp and pulled it from its brace. It came loose, but the wires were still attached. He was yanking on these, trying to separate them, when the door made a very worrying sound, like it was giving away.

Edward made a desperate pull on the lamp, and heaved out the rest of the wires just has the door cracked open and a cleaning lady forced her way in. She must have been only 5 feet tall, maybe, but she managed to break through the door by herself. "Hey, back up!" Edward shouted, but she just put her arms up and quickly shambled towards him. He could see the blood covering her uniform, and the chunk of flesh missing from her side. "Back the fuck up!" Edward raised his weapon, suddenly very scared and having a great desire to run, but there was nowhere to run to. The lady was nearly too him now, and so with no way to flee, he chose to fight. He braced his foot against the window, and launched himself straight into the woman. She flew back, tumbling over, and landed on her back. Yet she wasn't even stunned, and immediately tried to crawl to Edward's feet. He raised the lamp, and brought it smashing down on the woman. Her head gave off a definite crunch, but she was still coming. Edward brought the lamp down again, and again, and several more times before the woman finally stopped moving. His lamp was bent and shattered, so he tossed it aside, and slumped down against the wall. _"What the hell is happening? Why was the lady trying to get to me, and why didn't she give up until I had caved her head in?"_

His phone buzzed in his pocket again, so he took it out and read another, even worse text from his boss. "Forget leaving Japan, the borders are closed everywhere. I wish I could come after you, but I no longer have that ability. Good luck, and whatever you do, don't let them bite you." Edward just stared at the text, letting the reality sink in that things weren't just bad here. If his boss, often listed as one of the Top 10 most powerful men in the world, couldn't rescue his number 2 from a situation like this, then it was just this bad everywhere. He sat there numb, not knowing what to do next, or how to continue. He must have sat there for an hour, going through stages of depression, anger, and fear, before he finally got his ass up and started moving. _"Safety, I need to make myself safe to start_._" _ He almost walked out of the room, when he noticed the dead woman at his feet had a keycard attached to her side. _"A universal card?"_ He snagged the card, and went out to try and use it on another suite. The door opened, and inside he quickly confirmed that the room was empty. The next suite was the same, but the fourth one made him pause. He could hear the sounds of blowing wind, and so carefully, he tried to open the door. However, as soon as he pushed the handle down, the door swung open and he found why the wind was blowing. The window of the room had been completely shattered, and someone was trapped on a glass spike by their suit coat. He quickly came up to the opening, dropping to his knees so he didn't fall, and very carefully leaned over the edge. The body was just hanging limp, so he tried calling out, but the wind was too strong. He reached over and poked the shoulder, when the head snapped up, the arms reached above him, and the man started struggling to grab Edward. From the look in the hanging man's eyes, Edward knew he was just like the cleaning lady. He threw himself back, but the thing had grabbed the edge of the glass, and was trying to heave itself back up. The coat started tearing though , revealing it was actually embedded into the back as well. Still, once the creature had turned itself far enough, it tore from the spike and fell to the ground below.

Edward just stared, amazing and horrified at how much determination the man had shown, and how little he had cared that he was impaled and about to fall. Edward quickly snapped out of his phase, and exited the room. Now out in the hallway, the last thing to check was the staircase. He really had no desire to leave the floor though, especially now that he knew it was safe, and so simply pushed the sofas from the hallway to the stairwell and blocked the door with them. He wasn't tired once this was accomplished, but he still sat down to think. _"Now that I'm safe, what do I do next?"_ He thought for a long time, and eventually came to a conclusion. He could maybe survive by himself, but would have to put himself continually at risk. It would therefore be better to group up with other survivors, and let them do the dangerous work for him. However, Edward knew no group would work like that, so he decided he would try to secure this hotel as best as he could, and then offer it to survivors as a safe-place to stay. However, just like a hotel, they would have to pay rent, and to do so they would need to do the dangerous tasks that Edward wouldn't. He set this plan into action, and over the next few days, he downloaded hundreds of gigabytes of information to his laptop, secured the floor beneath him, and finally had a system in place to start accepting survivors. Using the downloaded information, he constructed a basic radio-antenna, and started broadcasting from the laptop a simple message in Japanese.

**To all survivors, I am broadcasting from the Marriot Hotel in the financial district. I have food, water, and shelter from the dangers outside. If you can manage it safely, I urge you to come to the 24th floor. I guarantee you will be safe**

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**A/N: Thank you for reading this first chapter. I know I didn't introduce any characters from the anime, but they will be included and actually be major characters in the next chapters. If you enjoyed this story, or see some way it could be improved, please leave a review. I am always open to suggestions. I won't give a set time for the next chapter, but it will be out as soon as I am satisfied with the quality of the work. Finally, I realize I never described what Edward looks like, but I will in the next chapter. Once again thanks for reading!**


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